[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/MQT2m7B.png[/img][/center]
[sup][b]S1- SENSATION & WONDER[/b][right][i]X-MEN[/i] #0 - [i][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRjLv1L0WF8]Sole Survivor[/url][/i][/right][/sup]
[sup][right]New York City, New York -- 10 Years Ago[/right][/sup]
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Tens of thousands of voices called out to Charles Xavier’s mind from the city and its chaos -- but the dread and wonder that percolated into his mind from the fading and awestruck below yielded to the psychic tenor permeating the alien vessel.

He felt it first beneath the mansion. When in tune with [i]Cerebro[/i], the X-Men’s pionic amplifier, Xavier is able to read minds and detect mutants the world over. And, it seems, able to catch alien whispers at the edge of space, raised as if in song and yet leadened with grief. He tried to do as he had done before, for countless new X-Men, to extend his mind and swaddle the precocious presence, assuring it that he was a friend. Yet, their spacecraft rebuffed every angle of his psychic approach; allowing thoughts to escape but [i]never[/i] intrude… Perhaps he would have better luck reaching out on the [i]inside[/i].

As the invasion of the [i]Dominators[/i] raged, the main body of Xavier’s X-Men met the enemy alongside Superman and Wonder Woman, cutting swathes out of their forces in laser bursts of mutant mastery. His students fighting alongside Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. On any other day, it was a dream come true; today, a means to get him in touch with something [i]more[/i].

The alien ship apparated around Charles in a purple crack of smoke and sulfur as [i]Nightcrawler[/i] teleported him aboard alongside [i]Wolverine[/i]. They were his X-Men, his students, his friends, and he had taken them into the belly of the beast.

The three X-Men stood in one of the open sores in the ship’s armor, exposed to the fading light by S.H.I.E.L.D’s artillery barrage. The hallway before them was moist and pliant underfoot, letting the wheels of Charles’ chair sink into it with a steady [i]squelch[/i]. The walls were sheer, brutalist in their design, polished to a reflective sheen.

In them, Xavier’s occipital lobe stitches together the haphazard images of [i]Dominator[/i] thought. Callous shadows honed to an edge seemed to [i]jump[/i] across the wall, [i]Dominators[/i] one and all polluting the mindscape with their [i]foul[/i] dreams of [i]conquest[/i]. Yet, shimmering in the darkness were splashes of green, in notation that Charles did not understand. His psyche leaped to it, as psychic noise filled him; [i]a song[/i]. Xavier’s mind worked, untangling the script before him. No longer strange script, but emerald musical notes. It was low and sad, crooning jazz for an audience of one.

[color=lightblue]“Professor… Do you feel that?”[/color] Nightcrawler asked. Charles’ pupil returned him to the moment. Nightcrawler was a mass of blue fur, at present all standing on its [i]end[/i], [color=lightblue]“[i]ach…[/i] it is like a [i]weight[/i] in the air.”[/color]

[color=yellow]“Feelin’ it too… lil’ like gettin’ a [i]mind blast[/i] from Jeannie,”[/color] Wolverine reported. He stood fast, with a tension that started in his forearms and radiated up his whole body.

[color=lightblue]“Could it be the [i]Dominators[/i]?”[/color]

[color=yellow]“Not smelling any ‘nators in this section, Fuzzball...”[/color] Wolverine reported. Claws long as lawnmower blades leapt from his fists, [color=yellow]“but there’s somethin’ [i]else[/i] here. An’ close.”[/color]

It was [i]closer[/i] than the other X-Men could understand. The music in Charles’ head was overpowering his X-Men’s voices, no longer truly a song but a [i]wail[/i]. He pushed against it with a broadcast of his own, not of words, but [i]feelings[/i].

He sent how he felt aboard the Dominator’s ship  -- the weight of their attack in his heart, and the spare hope of finding a kindred spirit in the darkness.

Then, it is his heart the day his marriage unfurled, without any of its circumstance or bitterness, but the [i]loss[/i]. The knowledge that he could never look at her the same way again -- the thought that he [i]wouldn’t[/i] see her again.

The song in Xavier’s head comes to a halt. There is no [i]language[/i] shared between them, but the other makes themselves clear with feelings of their own. The [i]loss[/i] of their [i]world[/i], the rust red sand and stones of a home in [i]ruin[/i], their own family dragged away by Dominators. Then, the fury of their [i]vengeance[/i], swimming incorporeal through the decks, the [i]boil[/i] of Dominator minds beneath their psi-blasts. And finally, the knowledge that it was too late.

[color=lightpink]|[i]We come in search of allies,[/i]|[/color] Xavier thinks, leaning into the other’s feelings, relying on their established psychic rapport to communicate his meaning. [color=lightpink]|[i]You have lost much, friend.[/i]|[/color]

[color=green]|[i]I have lost as your world will lose,[/i]|[/color] the presence responded, [color=green]|[i]as countless others will.[/i]|[/color] The presence was calm as its word entered Charles’ head, flowing in like water, yet steeled and solid against all comers.

[color=lightpink]|[i]They will be defeated,[/i]|[/color] Xavier thought, passing his memories from the ground -- [i]Superman[/i] in a whirl of color around the ship, his [i]X-Men[/i] meeting Dominator forces on the ground with abandon, and [i]Batman’s[/i] plane hanging in the sky.

[color=green]|[i]And they will not stop.[/i]|[/color] The other’s thought booms in Xavier’s mind. Again Xavier was in the red sands of a place that felt like [i]home[/i], surrounded by droves of his green-skinned countrymen, satisfied with the knowledge the day was [i]won[/i]. A smoldering Dominator ship has folded upon itself, lying a broken wreck some miles away from his settlement. But the sky [i]darkens[/i] with each new ship [i]leaping[/i] into the sky.

[color=lightpink]|[i]Then we know what must be done.[/i]|[/color] Xavier’s expression darkened.

[color=lightpink]“You are [i]needed[/i] below, Kurt. [i]Go[/i],”[/color] he said to Nightcrawler.

[color=lightblue]“It’s [i]dangerous[/i], [i]mein freund[/i]. X-Men stick together. Perhaps I should-”[/color] Xavier only looked at the other X-Man for a second.

Nightcrawler shot straight up.

[color=lightblue]“[i]Ja[/i], Professor…”[/color] Kurt said, eyes glossed over. The air split with a ‘[i]BAMF[/i]’ and he was gone.

[color=yellow]“Chuck?”[/color] Wolverine’s eyes were on him instantly. The angle of his claws cast the sunlight against Charles.[color=yellow] “What was [i]that[/i]?”[/color]

Charles reached out to him, easing Wolverine’s repulsion with his intrusion into Kurt’s mind, massaging his consciousness into acceptance.

[color=lightpink]“Only what is [i]necessary[/i].”[/color] Charles said. Wolverine swayed and nodded dully.

From the wall, the presence in Charles’ mind took corporeal form. It was shaped like a man, sliding [i]through[/i] the wall as naturally as a human might breathe. It was several heads taller than Charles or Wolverine, and as green as the Dominator’s blood. It’s head was almost insectoid, but flesh instead of chitin, trailing off into a point at its tip. Two glossed, red eyes stared at Wolverine.

[color=green]|[i]Your man hungers for violence.[/i]|[/color] He still does not speak, beaming his thoughts into Charles’ head.

[color=lightpink]|[i]Is it not useful, in times like these?[/i]|[/color] Xavier thought. The alien’s acknowledgement of his statement flared in his mind.

[color=green]|[i]I would know your name, human.[/i]|[/color] The alien’s gaze shifted to Charles.

[color=lightpink]|[i]Charles and Logan[/i]|[/color] Professor Xavier thought, [color=lightpink]|[i]of Earth.[/i]|[/color]

[color=green]|[i]I am called J’onn J’onzz, of Mars.[/i]|[/color]

[color=yellow]“What’s the play, Charlie?”[/color] Wolverine was coming around. His eyes and senses passed the martian without recognition.

There was no doubt in Xavier’s mind. Every Dominator he had scanned came up the same. Petulant, warlike animals with no will but to destroy and conquer… And J’onn’s experiences only confirmed it. No Dominators could be allowed to escape. If word of Earth reached their homeworld, it would only be a matter of time until they returned. Then, it was a simple calculus.

[color=lightpink]“Simple, Logan,”[/color] Charles said, [color=lightpink]“we’re going to [i]exterminate[/i] the Dominators.”[/color]